A Very Fascinating Doctor
by anoblevolunteer
Summary: As the Baudelaires seek for shelter, a mysterious man arrives bringing with him even more mysterious information.


**A/N: This takes place after The End (ASOUE) and The Wedding of River Song (Doctor Who) In this version however, the orphans have escaped the island instead of being taken by the Great Unknown. Enjoy!**

**EDIT: 30/06/2015 - Just to clarify I'm afraid I'm not going to be continuing this! **

Time, a word which here means 'something that everyone wants more of but never seems to get', is a very strange word. Certainly, the Baudelaires had often craved for more time. In situations such as escaping a villainous woman in killer stilettos, or trying to locate a fan belt whilst dangerously near to a lion pit surrounded by a boisterous crowd, it would have proven to be beneficial. But they had also craved more time with the people who had loved them dearly and whom they loved so dearly, the biggest being their parents, who had perished in a mysterious fire.

The three orphans along with the baby Beatrice were huddled together on the sands of Briny Beach. The Baudelaires could still remember that fateful day when Mr. Poe, a man who was responsible for finding new guardian's for the Baudelaires yet he had rarely acted like one, had told them about the misfortune that had fallen upon their parents. That was when they became the prey of Count Olaf, a wicked and greedy man who wanted nothing more than to get his hands on the enormous fortune that the Baudelaires had been left behind. But now Count Olaf was dead as was the mother of Beatrice, Kit Snicket, and as were many, many others.

The Baudelaires had spent a year on an island before rowing out to the mainland. The fate of the previous inhabitants of the island was not known. The Baudelaires had been deserted yet again and had been handed the task of raising a child, which they did quite well despite their age and location. They had very little places to go and all their previous guardians had either died or were nowhere to be found or contacted (coded or otherwise).

Violet, who was now sixteen, was the eldest of the siblings. Her skill was inventing. Violet had a ribbon which she used to tie up her hair so she could focus on her ideas when she was inventing. Now her hair lay loose, just above her shoulders and falling free in front of her face.

Klaus Baudelaire, who was fourteen, loved to read. He knew nearly everything about nearly every subject from pineapples to velocity to zelophobia. His knowledge had helped save the three of them many times, from deciphering a suicide note to finding out horseradish or some similar culinary equivalent like wasabi was very useful in treating people from the _Medusoid Mycelium. _

The youngest Baudelaire was Sunny, who was three years old and had four very sharp teeth. She spoke in a manner as many children do, with incomprehensible words strung together, which only her siblings could understand. She had a remarkable knowledge of fine cuisine and she was indeed a marvellous cook.

Shelter had been very hard for them to come by. They had tried to venture towards 667 Dark Avenue, but until Violet became eighteen she could not legally inherit the fortune to purchase a house. It would be a long three years before the three could acquire a dream house, with rooms to invent, rooms to read and rooms to cook and especially rooms to bite things.

At this moment in time the Baudelaires had decided to go to Count Olaf's mansion, although the thought of it made their skin crawl with disgust. They desperately wanted to search the spooky, looming tower for any hope of solving some of the mysteries they had encountered through the past two years and find any remaining links to their beloved parents.

"Listen, both of you, we really need to find some shelter." Violet looked up at the sky, which had started to darken to a solid blue, with no twinkling stars for comfort.

It was then they heard it.

It sounded like a faint humming, but gradually it became louder and louder. Although their faces were masked by strands of hair flapping about, they could just make out something materializing in the distance. First it was there, and then it wasn't, and then it was...the cycle continued on and on. The irregular materialization was like the rhythm of the second hand of a clock. Slowly, they saw a solid blue box before them, and they heard the creak of the door as it opened.

"Hello Baudelaires! I'm the Doctor and this is my TARDIS, that's Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Now, I hear that you have a bit of a problem on your hands. Step inside, we haven't got much time!'

He had barely stepped into the strange police box before his head popped back out the door again.

"Oh and did I mention Klaus, I love your bow tie!"

The mad man hopped back into the police box, leaving the door ajar. The Baudelaires looked at each other in a mixture of excitement and surprise. How did he know who they were? Where had he come from? Was he safe? Their minds were bubbling like hot alphabet soup, reeling with questions.

In what seemed like a last attempt, the man came out to meet them. The expression on his face was tinged with a slight sadness, but the Baudelaires could see that the burden he carried was far more. This man was old and young and the same time. He had the markings of a mysterious past and a murky future. He chose his next words carefully, not to entice them, but to give them a choice.

"I knew your parents."

Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase which here means _the god out of the machine. _Klaus Baudelaire had thought about this word when he and his siblings were trapped in a prison cell, and it seemed to be appropriate in this current situation.

The door was fully open, inviting them in. The four of them looked at each other, conveying what only their hearts could say. Clutching each other hands, they edged close towards the box and before they knew it, they were inside.

"Lanoisnemidsnart!" Sunny cried. She giggled in fascination of how enormous everything was. Beatrice (who was still holding Sunny's hand) made little 'ooh' sounds in delight, the type of 'ooh' you make when you see fireworks in the sky, or the type of 'ooh' that your soon to be wife makes when you surprise her with a coded letter and gift.

Only Klaus seemed to have a slight grip on reality, undoubtedly due to his knowledge of time travel. But even he had never thought it would be a possibility.

The Doctor observed them, taking in the surprise and wonder on their faces. He smiled an old, sad smile and bowed his head in respect. He had witnessed so many deaths, of people and planets and civilizations and galaxies. He closed his eyes a moment to reflect on Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaires kind faces. When he opened his eyes, Violet was standing in front of him, arms folded and eyes full of questions

"How-how did you know our parents?"

He had expected this right from the moment he had told them. Through all the knowledge and feelings and solutions in his brain, he sifted out the most important and sentimental memory.

_Violet Baudelaire was fast asleep. The cogs and gears in her head were endlessly whirring, creating new ideas and inventions. Even at two years old she was thinking of new ideas. She was indeed a great deal more creative that many other children._

_In the room beneath her, a fire was crackling away. The two Baudelaire parents sat in their armchairs, discussing how resourceful Violet was. _

"_Have you seen her, Bertrand? She loves playing with your tool kit."_

_Bertrand Baudelaire smiled. "I saw her in our room yesterday, playing with your old hair ribbon. She seems rather attached to it. She wouldn't let go when I tried to persuade her to hand it over!"_

_Both parents chuckled. Their daughter certainly was very inventive...which would help her a lot._

_It was then they heard the familiar sound, the welcoming metallic humming that throbbed at the back of their minds._

_The TARDIS door opened and there was the Doctor, cheerful as ever, with his arms outstretched._

"_Hello, Baudelaires!"_

_Throughout the night as the fire danced, the three of them chattered away about plans and messages and things that are best kept secret, whilst little Violet Baudelaire lay asleep in a quiet world. _

As the Doctor conveyed this memory to them, a small hologram was being projected onto the screen. The smiling faces of the Baudelaires parents looked down on their children, and for a moment everything was right again. Then it faded, and reality descended on them.

He knew what the consequences were. They could ask to go back in time to stop the fire, to save their parents and make a series of unfortunate events become a series of fortunate events. As he predicted, that was the first thing they asked, but The Doctor replied with a small shake of his head.

"You may be interested in this though."

There was something in his hand. Something that stunned Violet, that made Klaus gasp and made Sunny gurgle.

A commonplace notebook.


End file.
